We all know that modern search engines base part of their rankings algo on web links. Given everything we have heard, read, and seen from SEO’s and the entire search industry, it is crystal clear that a major portion of Google and Bing’s organic algo’s are based on web linkage. The bottom line in pretty simple; backlinks still rule the web and the search engines rankings algos.
There are about a dozen SEO agencies that are household names in the industry. Most have over 20 years in the game. They are primarily link-building services. Every single one we have heard talk at search conferences and commiserated with at the bar, have boughten links in some form or another. For a few of them, it’s their entire business model. Out of those dozen, there is only one we are aware of (and in this industry – people do talk), has faced any sort of search penalty over linkage. That one also recovered the sites in about six months. When done correctly, that’s a fairly solid record for link building and link buying. To us, it points out that the risks of quality link buys are far lower than the general web marketers have been led to believe.
That said, some engines do say they actively look for and demote some link pages as running counter to their guidelines. In fact, you only have to read that docs page to realize how much effort Google and Bing have put into thinking, programming, and managing their over all systems about links. It is pretty obvious links are still a major core of their systems.
Manual penalties for links, are pretty rare as Google seems to prefer using rules in the algo to demote pages and fix issues rather than expensive manual labor actions. We surmise that if a site is buying links for the sole purposes of increasing rankings, that there is a higher likely hood there are enough other factors Google could look at to down grade the page before ever having to worry about links (eg: it’s not worth their trouble).
In talking with several of those link buying and selling services for this article, it is still apparent that links can make a massive difference in very tight search competition sectors. This is especially true for highly contested local services markets. Marcus (not real name) from one firm told us when they take on a new client:
“…we farm out the on-the-page-SEO to an offshore SEO firm as basically a distraction to appease the client with monthly reports and pretty charts, while we focus on link building to actually move needle.“
He said that in some verticals:
“…only one or two links will be the difference between page five and a top three listing on page one of the Serps. You can dial that up by 10 if we are talking presence on local maps. The longer the tail keyword, the more impactful even a few links can be.“
That is especially important in visibility on the local map where getting organic links is almost impossible regardless of the content effort because everyone is a competitor and nobody links to a competitor in the local space.
Then there is a twilight zone area where Link Buying, Link Building, and general web promotion overlap into a weird way. Of course, you can buy links that generate great traffic. In those cases, are you buying links or buying clicks? In reality, you are making an organic Ad buy that is an unfettered link. That is win/win that ultimately serves pagerank, rather than tainting it. In fact, if you are setting out to buy links these types of links, they are the unicorn of links.
Keep in mind if you are buying links for their link popularity metric or for traffic. While these two seem opposed, they general run hand-in-hand. You need a page to be popular to pass any link-juice, which in turn leads to clicks as well. Always try to buy placement on pages that can generate traffic for your site.
With that as a backdrop, let’s cut through the noise and talk buying links as a business transaction, plain and simple. Whether you’re looking for traffic, targeted brand exposure, or just want your name on other sites to spread the gospel about your site – plenty of websites are willing to sell you a link. After all, even sites like Google have made Two TRILLION Dollars by selling links to sites in the name “Ads” the last 25 years. (seriously, take a bit and ponder that – I’ll wait).
That all said, this isn’t for the risk-averse. There are search engines that frown on paid links: If search engine placements are a concern, you’ll need to be smart about where, how, and from whom you buy ads and links. Be aware there are some search engines that are still play-for-play that will gladly take your money for a link back. The bottom line is that some link-back deals will boost your visibility, while others are a waste of money—or worse, are a flat out liability.
How to Buy Links as a Business Transaction
This guide skips the debates and gives a straightforward, practical step-by-step guide to purchasing links efficiently. From finding sites that sell links to negotiating prices and tracking placements, here’s how to do it right.
- Identify High-Authority Sites
- Use tools like Ahrefs or Majestic to find sites with strong domain authority or high visibility and high-quality backlinks.
- Look for sites ranking well in your industry, regardless of their stance on selling links.
- Types of sites:
1) University / EDU. If you can get a link from a university EDU, you have struck solid gold. Some link buying services recruit university students in computer labs as interns, for the sole reason of getting a link back.
That said, don’t over look your kids school either. Many have a supporters or donators page. It is worth a few bucks to get a link on there.
2) Govt: say it aint so brother, but yes you can get links from Govt sites if you target them properly. Try to target those in the same niche as you are pitching links for. Remember that most of these sites already have a resources or “further reading” links pages. They might as well link to you or your clients right?
3) Independent Agency sites. The classic example is the local library. Getting link from a library was raised to the level of a sport in some link building communities. We know of one link buying firm that would hold contests and give bonuses to employees that would get links from libraries. Probably the best tacit we know of going forward, is to simply cover content on the site that targets librarians. Nothing like the classic “why the world needs librarians” blog post to move a few folks to link to you.
- Find Sites That Sell Links
- Many sites won’t openly advertise link sales, but guest post pages, sponsored content sections, and “partner” listings can be a giveaway. One easy tactic is to suggest a “link exchange” when you do outreach to a site. Often that site will return with a ‘fee’ for that link exchange and presto, you found a site that will sell links.
- Directories of link sellers exist on black-hat forums, Telegram groups, and private SEO circles.
- Run backlink analysis on those sites to find “external” links that might seem a smidge out of character for them. It is often not difficult to find the sites that are probably selling links. (but be warned, if you can spot them, search engines probably can too – so tread lightly and cheaply)
- Contact the Site Owners / Editors
- Email them directly with a short and direct inquiry like:
“Hey, I’m interested in getting a link placed on your site. Exchange links, or do you offer that service?”
- If no response, try reaching out on LinkedIn or Twitter DMs.
- Email them directly with a short and direct inquiry like:
- Negotiate Pricing
- Prices vary widely. Expect $50–$500 for small sites and $1,000+ for major blogs or news sites. Highest we have heard is one recently went for $25k for an unfettered link from a category page of a top 500 website.
- Many sellers offer bulk discounts if you buy multiple links.
Many linkbuilding service employees work on commision scale
- Link Placement & Context
- Best case: Your link appears inside an existing editorial or new article with relevant context.
- Worst case: It’s on a footer, sidebar, or link list (much much much less valuable, avoid if possible).
- Ask for a example/sample link they’ve sold to see the quality. Insist on the anchor text (this is mission critical because rankings can be very dependent on the anchor text).
- You may want to avoid pages that have and analytics package installed from a major search engine. Remember, they can see everything that happens on that page. If you have a link on a page that gets zero traffic, it just seems like those pages get demoted or even deindexed.
- Decide on Link Type (Dofollow/Nofollow/Sponsored)
- Dofollow: Transfers ranking power, always more expensive and rewarding.
- Nofollow or Sponsored: Less valuable – almost useless really – but sometimes worth it for visibility or direct referral traffic. These offer no rankings value.
- Verify Traffic Guarantees
- If they claim traffic guarantees, demand some tracking proof (Adobe, Google Analytics, SimilarWeb).
- Use referral tracking parameters to see if they actually drive traffic. Tip: try not to use “utm” in the link as these params can now be filtered by various services.
- Agree on Payment & Terms
- Many sellers prefer crypto or PayPal (some accept bank transfers). Use an escrow service if you are nervous about sending money.
- If using a marketplace (like Fiverr, PeoplePerHour, or niche forums), check thier reviews closely before paying (especially if they want crypto).
- Time frame: Agree on how long the link will live— obviously permanent links are best, but some charge monthly fees.
- Track & Monitor Your Links
- Use a spider like screaming frog regularly to make sure links stay up.
- Some sellers remove links after a few months—if that happens, confront them or negotiate a lower rate upfront.
- Scale & Diversify
- Don’t rely on a single source. Mix blogs, news sites, category sites, directories, niche forums, and social influencers for maximum impact.
- Sponsored Posts : these can often be bare links as well – quality stuff without risk.
- Product Review : Having a site review your product is a great way to ask for a link. You are providing them with content as well as income.
- Editorial Link Edits: These involve an established site injecting links to to well ranking pages that are dated. You get to piggy back off that initial link juice.
- PBN (Private Blog Network): I know link builders that swear by this type of site and others that avoid these. They seem to offer a short term boost, followed by significant risks. The only sites I have seen penalized for link buying, are on the PBN’s. I strongly believe there are some who purchase links on these site, just to see who is selling them. There have been entire networks of these sites slaughtered in algo updates. That all said, I know a couple of major affiliates that run link buying through nothing but PBN’s and love love love them all the way to the bank going on 10 years. beats me how they get away with it for that long.
- Content Syndication: These work and are expensive. They also don’t carry much link pop as they end up getting duplicate content demotions in the search engines.
- Press Releases: Like content syndication. Most of these links are no followed or marked as sponsored. While most SEO’s see this as a branding play, almost every recent web press release is found in Bing as well as Google. What’s the kicker? you can use a unique landing page URL in the press release and later find that URL in the search engines (proof they indexed the link)
That said, I would avoid any clearing house for link purchasing as these are sketchy at best. These are generally well known to Google and easy to spot their spammy backlink profile. Or, if you do use them, do it right and use a throw away domain that you don’t care if it gets burned to the ground in the serps. These link marketplaces are where many link builders have found penalties and bad link neighborhoods.
You can however, use one of the many large link building services out there. We know of atleast a dozen that are experts in building links and as mentioned, know what they are doing.
- Image Links: are ok, but the nice thing about text links is the passed anchor text. Try to get alt text if you get an image link.
- Links of Links: again, better than nothing, but something in the middle of a paragraph of contextually relevant info is much better.
- Look for “DoFollow” links vs NoFollow, but any link with any attribute is a good link. It has been our experence that we often can not determine if this attribute has any value today.
- Reddit and Quora: Tread carefully. Not a place to purchase, but it is the current hot spot for links. Word is, that dropping a link in a long established thread is better than one that was active in the last few weeks.
- Remember, Quality over Quantity.
1. Guest Posting – see above:
2. Broken Link Building – above
3. Resource Page Link Building: Finding resource pages in your niche and offering your own valuable resource for inclusion.
4. Influencer Outreach – collaborating with influencers in your niche. Target them by creating content that they’ll want to share and link to.
5. Digital PR: Creating newsworthy content or data-driven case studies. Then reaching out to journalists and bloggers.
6. Local Citations: Ensuring consistent NAP information across online directories.
7. Building Relationships: Networking with other website owners and bloggers at conferences.
8. Content Creation: Creating high quality content that other websites want to link to. (Best of luck).
9. Monitoring Brand Mentions: Finding unlinked brand mentions and requesting links.
10. Competitor Backlink Analysis: Analyzing your competitors’ backlink profiles to identify potential link opportunities.
11. Utilizing Social Media: Well duh! lol Promoting your content on social media to increase visibility.
12. Creating Visual Assets: Develop infographics or other visual content that others will want to share and link to.
13. Internal Linking: Optimizing your website’s internal linking structure.
14. Reclaiming Lost Links: Checking for broken backlinks to your site and requesting replacements.
15. Offering Testimonials: Providing genuine testimonials to other businesses in exchange for a link.
16. Participating in Online Communities: Engaging in relevant online forums and communities that allow profile links.
17. Creating “Skyscraper” Content: Finding popular content in your niche and creating a better, more comprehensive version.
18. Using online tools: Using tools that help to find backlink opportunities.
19. Offering free tools or resources: Creating free online tools, or resources that are usefull to others in your space, that will in turn create backlinks.
Final Thoughts on Buying Links
Buying links is a straightforward process, but it’s so not a one-size-fits-all proposition. The value of a paid link depends on where it’s placed, the level of competition in your niche, and whether the site actually does drive traffic. Some links will be worth every penny, while others are just useless transactions.
If you do pay for links, treat it like any other investment and vet your sources, negotiate a good smart price, and track performance. The lower the competition spaces often provide the highest ROI, since their link equity/PR isn’t diluted across thousands of outbound links.
At the end of the day, a well-placed link is about visibility, authority, and traffic. Ignore the hand-wringing over SE Guidlines — if the deal makes sense for your business, close it and move on. Remember, Google has made over two trillion dollars – selling ad links.
- AI-Powered Link Building: How to Automate & Scale Backlinks
- Link Building 2025 – What’s Out, What’s Still In – What Needs Updated
As the CEO and founder of Pubcon Inc., Brett Tabke has been instrumental in shaping the landscape of online marketing and search engine optimization. His journey in the computer industry has spanned over three decades and has made him a pioneering force behind digital evolution. Full Bio
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